February 28, 2009

I always take it as a good sign when something occurs in the Media Mass that makes me smack the table with the flat of my palm and silently intone, “Those bastards!” It lets me know that the Media Mass hasn’t succeeded in its mission of turning my (and your) brain into oatmeal yet.

My most recent experience with table-smacking occurred due to an encounter with an article in Friday’s Pravda Washington Post about Obama’s director of the Office of Management and Budget, Peter Orszag: Orszag Is Economic Centrist Who Knows How to Deal

This 1100 word fluffer on Orszag failed to mention some pertinent facts one might find elsewhere:

“In 1998, after serving in the Clinton administration, Orszag co-founded an economic consulting group company with his brother and Joseph Stiglitz called Sebago Associates, where he served as president through 2007. The firm’s clients have included the World Bank, the Nordic Council of Ministers, and most notably, the Central Bank of Iceland. The once prosperous economy of Iceland has been devastated by the current economic crisis, which its citizens say was carried out by a gang of financial criminals who followed disastrous policies and advice – provided by Peter Orszag and Company.“ ( The Israeli Who Runs the Obama White House )

The article also failed to mention Orszag’s involvement with the oligarchs in 1990’s post-Soviet Russia, a period in history of which many Americans are utterly ignorant.

Unsurprisingly, the Post also neglects to mention Orszag’s two mentors, Robert Rubin and Joseph Stiglitz, each one being little more than window dressing for a predatory economic philosophy, a philosophy that is seeing its fruition in the ruination of the economies of nations so that the economy of Globalism can reign supreme.

February 25, 2009

Malcolm X 1925-1965

(Note: Malcolm was assassinated five months after this article was printed)

Zionist Logic
by Malcolm X

Taken from The Egyptian Gazette — Sept. 17, 1964

The Zionist armies that now occupy Palestine claim their ancient Jewish prophets predicted that in the “last days of this world” their own God would raise them up a “messiah” who would lead them to their promised land, and they would set up their own “divine” government in this newly-gained land, this “divine” government would enable them to “rule all other nations with a rod of iron.”

If the Israeli Zionists believe their present occupation of Arab Palestine is the fulfillment of predictions made by their Jewish prophets, then they also religiously believe that Israel must fulfill its “divine” mission to rule all other nations with a rod of irons, which only means a different form of iron-like rule, more firmly entrenched even, than that of the former European Colonial Powers.

These Israeli Zionists religiously believe their Jewish God has chosen them to replace the outdated European colonialism with a new form of colonialism, so well disguised that it will enable them to deceive the African masses into submitting willingly to their “divine” authority and guidance, without the African masses being aware that they are still colonized.

CAMOUFLAGE

The Israeli Zionists are convinced they have successfully camouflaged their new kind of colonialism. Their colonialism appears to be more “benevolent,” more “philanthropic,” a system with which they rule simply by getting their potential victims to accept their friendly offers of economic “aid,” and other tempting gifts, that they dangle in front of the newly-independent African nations, whose economies are experiencing great difficulties. During the 19th century, when the masses here in Africa were largely illiterate it was easy for European imperialists to rule them with “force and fear,” but in this present era of enlightenment the African masses are awakening, and it is impossible to hold them in check now with the antiquated methods of the 19th century.

The imperialists, therefore, have been compelled to devise new methods. Since they can no longer force or frighten the masses into submission, they must devise modern methods that will enable them to manouevre the African masses into willing submission.

The modern 20th century weapon of neo-imperialism is “dollarism.” The Zionists have mastered the science of dollarism: the ability to come posing as a friend and benefactor, bearing gifts and all other forms of economic aid and offers of technical assistance. Thus, the power and influence of Zionist Israel in many of the newly “independent” African nations has fast-become even more unshakeable than that of the 18th century European colonialists… and this new kind of Zionist colonialism differs only in form and method, but never in motive or objective.

At the close of the 19th century when European imperialists wisely foresaw that the awakening masses of Africa would not submit to their old method of ruling through force and fears, these ever-scheming imperialists had to create a “new weapon,” and to find a “new base” for that weapon.

DOLLARISM

The number one weapon of 20th century imperialism is zionist dollarism, and one of the main bases for this weapon is Zionist Israel. The ever-scheming European imperialists wisely placed Israel where she could geographically divide the Arab world, infiltrate and sow the seed of dissension among African leaders and also divide the Africans against the Asians.

Zionist Israel’s occupation of Arab Palestine has forced the Arab world to waste billions of precious dollars on armaments, making it impossible for these newly independent Arab nations to concentrate on strengthening the economies of their countries and elevate the living standard of their people.

And the continued low standard of living in the Arab world has been skillfully used by the Zionist propagandists to make it appear to the Africans that the Arab leaders are not intellectually or technically qualified to lift the living standard of their people … thus, indirectly “enducing” Africans to turn away from the Arabs and towards the Israelis for teachers and technical assistance.

“They cripple the bird’s wing, and then condemn it for not flying as fast as they.”

The imperialists always make themselves look good, but it is only because they are competing against economically crippled newly independent countries whose economies are actually crippled by the Zionist-capitalist conspiracy. They can’t stand against fair competition, thus they dread Gamal Abdul Nasser’s call for African-Arab Unity under Socialism.

MESSIAH?

If the “religious” claim of the Zionists is true that they were to be led to the promised land by their messiah, and Israel’s present occupation of Arab Palestine is the fulfillment of that prophesy: where is their messiah whom their prophets said would get the credit for leading them there? It was Ralph Bunche who “negotiated” the Zionists into possession of Occupied Palestine! Is Ralph Bunche the messiah of Zionism? If Ralph Bunche is not their messiah, and their messsiah has not yet come, then what are they doing in Palestine ahead of their messiah?

Did the Zionists have the legal or moral right to invade Arab Palestine, uproot its Arab citizens from their homes and seize all Arab property for themselves just based on the “religious” claim that their forefathers lived there thousands of years ago? Only a thousand years ago the Moors lived in Spain. Would this give the Moors of today the legal and moral right to invade the Iberian Peninsula, drive out its Spanish citizens, and then set up a new Moroccan nation … where Spain used to be, as the European zionists have done to our Arab brothers and sisters in Palestine?…

In short the Zionist argument to justify Israel’s present occupation of Arab Palestine has no intelligent or legal basis in history … not even in their own religion. Where is their Messiah?

February 25, 2009

“In the popular late-night talk show, Israeli comedian Lior Shlein railed against Christian beliefs – that Mary was a virgin and that Jesus walked on water – saying he was doing so as a “lesson” to Christians who deny the Holocaust.”

I’d like to thank Lior Shlein for proving the point that many of us have been trying to make: The Holocaust is not a historical event to certain Jews and Judeo-Christians. It’s a full blown religion. As with all religions, reason, civility and civilized discourse are useless when talking to True Believers.

Paredes, who had been working as national director of Latino outreach for the American Jewish Congress and previously served at the Israeli consulate, moved into the office Monday. He’s the only employee. I e-mailed him yesterday to see why he’s spent his career in Jewish life and what he has planned for making ZOA relevant in Los Angeles again.

ZOA West has struggled for years. Why do you think that is?
While I have spoken with the collective “institutional memory” of the ZOA in Los Angeles in order to get the lay of the land, I’m not a person who dwells on the past. Sometimes it takes a combination of the right people with the right talents and a little bit of luck to make things happen in a big way. With apologies to Shakespeare, the past is not necessarily prologue.

What about job longevity? I count at least three people who have held your position since late 2006.
Since I expect to succeed in this position, I’m not worried about longevity. Also, keep in mind that there is a new dynamic in the organization: Gary Ratner is the new national executive director. Gary and I work well together, and he was the executive director for the LA office of a national Jewish organization for many years. He knows what we need to do to make inroads here, and we are excited about working with ZOA President Mort Klein to organize events for our supporters in the Western Region. I am also fortunate to be able to work with the indefatigable Julie Sager, our LA-based Director of Campus Activities.

What is your formula for turning ZOA around?
I plan to bring together Jews, both religious and secular, who are proud to be Zionists, who are willing to defend Israel and the Jewish people, who want Israel to negotiate peace only with partners who have already renounced terror and incitement and recognize Israel, and who believe that Jews have the right to live in the Land of Israel, including Judea and Samaria. Belief in these principles transcends movements and the religious/secular divide, and it’s my job to organize events that will inspire our supporters and attract other defenders of Israel to the ZOA banner.

Sixty-one years after the creation of the state of Israel, you think there’s still a need for the Zionist Organization of America?

Absolutely. In fact, we’re currently planning a national conference whose theme will be the meaning of Zionism in the 21st century. Let’s look at college campuses, for example. I’m proud that the ZOA is the only Jewish organization that takes college students on trips to Israel where they visit Judea and Samaria. In order to understand the miracle of a modern-day Jewish state, one has to visit Hebron, Efrat, and Ariel as well as Tel Aviv and Haifa. In this age of worldwide anti-Israel marches, attacks on synagogues, anti-Zionist professors and authors, and Holocaust deniers, Zionist advocacy is sorely needed—and all too often absent.

How much of ZOA’s role today is about fighting anti-Semitism and how much is about promoting Israel?
I’d say the breakdown is about 75% promotion of Israel’s security and 25% fighting anti-Semitism. Of course, these days it’s sometimes hard to separate the two.

Now, you’re still Mormon, right? I know Mormons are major Zionists, but it’s got to be unusual for a Mormon to be running a regional office for a major Jewish organization.
I am still a Latter-day Saint, though I also think of myself as a “yehudi b’nefesh” [Jewish in soul]. I’m unaware of another non-Jew who has headed a regional office of a national Jewish organization, but I don’t foresee any problems. After all, you don’t have to be Jewish to be a Zionist or to understand what’s happening in the world.

What is it about the Jewish community that has attracted you to its employment?
Jews and Judaism have always exerted a pull on me. I couldn’t escape it even when I went to Russia: while I served as the interpreter for Time correspondent Nancy Traver, she spent all of her time covering the Jewish community there! In 2001 I was introduced to former LA Israeli Consul General Yuval Rotem, and he hired me to be his press attache after we rapped in Hebrew for several minutes about camels in Mauritania. The rest, as they say, is history. I love the energy and passion that Jews bring to everything they’re involved in, and I have a deep love for Jews, Israel and Judaism. I write a monthly religion column for a local newspaper, and love nothing better than to ask Jews questions about their faith.

So what’s next?
Many weeks and months of hard work.

Comments:

As a Latter Day Saint myself, I want the Jewish community to know how much you are respected and loved by our community. We admire you, draw much strength and doctrine from you. Anyone who studies the scriptures deep enough will come to the same conclusions. Thank you for your contributions to society.
Comment by Shelly on 2/12/09 at 12:56 pm

Go, Mark!
Comment by Eric on 2/12/09 at 11:18 pm

Although I mostly an “Ostrich” in my knowledge of “Zionist” and Jewish issues, I concur completely with Shelly. I’m a VERY active Mormon and concur totally with Paredes and Shelly, et al.
Comment by Bill on 2/13/09 at 5:41 am

I tried submitting one comment already. Basically it said that I know Mark from a brief acquaintance in Westwood, and while I appreciate his zeal for Israel, sometimes “Zionism” has some negative extreme connotations, and as active Latter day Saints and devoted Americans we have to be careful of being too extreme towards any ideology that could be considered exclusionary or as extreme as say, Hamas (the non-recognition of two states).

I said some other things in my commment like my other LDS friend getting his doctorate in Middle East history at UCLA had some strong differences with Mark when we discussed the topic at a church fireside on the conflict.

I strive to be neutral, pro-Israel and pro-Palestine at the same time, and I pray for peace in the Holy land for all sides. I have friendships among all peoples over there, and I hope things get better for everyone’s sake.

I am active LDS and we as Mormons have no one single view for “Zionism” and what that means.
Doctrinally, Zion for us as Christians is not necessarily what certain modern Zionists purport it to be.
Thanks for the article.
Comment by Ed Clinch on 2/13/09 at 8:07 am

Ed, well said (even if it took two tries).
Comment by Eric on 2/13/09 at 8:18 am

Although a Latter-day Saint, my three best friends growing up were (are) jewish. I have always felt at home in their culture, and have a deep and abiding respect for their devotion to their faith and the manner in which they translate it into successful homes and families. The similarities in our two application-of-faith philosophies are astounding, in spite of our differences. I attribute it to the fact that we both worship the the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and both our faiths capture and implement many of the same fundamental tenets taught by our common God.
Comment by Doug on 2/13/09 at 10:04 am

While I certainly admire that Mr. Paredes is building bridges with other religious communities, as and active member of the LDS faith I do not appreciate the inference that all LDS are “zionist”. Far from it. This is one person whose view coincide with this community and organization. Mr. Paredes does not represent all mormons in the lease.
Comment by jason on 2/14/09 at 8:54 am

I am a Jewish convert to being an active and faithful Latter Day Saint. I pray for peace in the Middle East and agree with Doug that we all worship the same One God.
Comment by joan ciccarone on 2/14/09 at 12:49 pm

February 14, 2009

For many (or some) of us that were subject to intensive Holocaust conditioning as kids in American public schools, we saw films of hundreds and thousands of piled bodies from old WWII footage a few times a year – year in, year out. We were told they were Jews that had been murdered, gassed mostly, by the Nazis. I recall seeing my first one of these films in the early 1970’s when I was about nine or ten years old.

It went on for my entire education in the Boston area and then in high school in Columbia, Md. when my family had moved. In 1978 when the NBC television miniseries “Holocaust” was required watching for my social studies class, it seemed perfectly natural that we were expected to sit through four nights of television that even Elie Wiesel called “untrue, offensive, cheap.”

As a kid, I always felt a little sledgehammered after being subjected to those movies in the darkened classroom, surrounded by my fellow students with the teacher sitting in the back to keep an eye on us to make sure we didn’t fool around or otherwise be distracted from the Important Information that was being injected into our still-forming minds. Dark rooms under veil of authority are very conducive to making certain that attention is given to what’s to be taken in.

What was being funneled into our brains was a steady diet of grainy black and white movies of Jews being herded through towns like cattle, bodies being bulldozed into pits, mass trench shootings, prisoners that looked like the walking dead, emaciated corpses piled like firewood. If you had a similar experience in school, you know of what I speak. Then there was usually some kind of after-lesson given by the teacher when we were at our most traumatized. Bad Nazis. Nice teacher.

And we all took it in, without question. Six million Jews died in gas chambers, were made into soap, burned in ovens. Four million Jews died in Auschwitz. Nazis made lampshades out of Jewish skin. Gas chambers in Germany. And thus was the core of my childhood education of the Holocaust. I never questioned what I’d been taught. I had no reason to. Leaving any idea of academia behind in 1980 when high school was over, I went along with my merry little life and to be honest, I didn’t think much about the Holocaust again.

Anyway, over time I also learned that the soap stories had been deprecated, Jews hadn’t been made into lampshades after all and there hadn’t really been any gas chambers on German soil. Having to unlearn this new information was coupled with learning that people were being charged with and going to jail for having the wrong opinion about history when it came to the Holocaust by publicly stating that there was no evidence for mass exterminations of Jews by gas chamber.

Frankly, life was easier before the blinders came off. What had all of these people done to the Holocaust stories of my youth?

….

We all know what a gas chamber is. It can be defined. We know them from 1930’s gangster flicks, Perry Mason shows, etc. For better or worse, gas chambers have been a meme for decades, even before World War Two. The first person executed by gas chamber in the US was a native born Chinese named Gee Jon in 1924. The last person executed by gas chamber in the US was in 1999, a German national named Walter LaGrand. Life’s funny like that.

It’s difficult to find a hard and fast definition of the term holocaust denial, though the term is used on a daily basis in the international media. As an aside that might have meaning or not, a google search for gas chamber yields fewer results than a google search for holocaust denial. I’ll leave it to the reader to pull that one apart.

So is there evidence of mass extermination of Jews by gas chamber? There’s much eyewitness and anecdotal evidence. There’s Yankel Wiernik’s “A Year In Treblinka”, published in 1945. In it, he claims that 1200 people were put into rooms that were about 400 square feet and gassed. This displays one of the difficulties of anecdotal evidence. Fitting 1200 people in what is essentially a small garage is a little difficult to imagine.

You most likely know the answer to #4 without having to look it up. Most of us would have to look up the other answers too. I guess it was more important for us to learn some things rather than others.

….

It took me until a couple of years ago to realize that our conditioning is so deep that when the programmed individual is asked to consider what evidence exists for gas chambers, what the programmed individual hears is, “No Jews were killed by the Nazis”. That’s exactly how the programming is supposed to work. It makes possible the use of the term ‘Holocaust denier’ to keep the unconditioned sheep out of the fold.

In High American Culture of the 21st Century, there’s few greater curses thrown than that of “Holocaust Denier”. It’s gotten people deported and jailed in foreign countries while multi-billion ripoff artists are sentenced to their mansions.

This conditioning is often protected through an emotional reaction. Many people get downright angry when gas chambers and evidence are brought up in the same sentence. We see this same reaction in people that have an overarching attachment to religious or political systems also. It’s not a rational, reasoned reaction to a rational, reasonable request. For others, the reaction is one of apathy. Apathy protects the conditioning by ensuring that the source of the conditioning won’t be examined and thus, the conditioning remains.

This Holocaust conditioning is the vicegrip of a perception that lends itself to much evil being allowed to happen. By at least examining what one thinks one does or doesn’t know about the Holocaust, that grip is broken just a little bit and perception can be allowed to change rather than dictated to.

“In forging their own brand of totalitarianism in the U.S., the Zionists continue to manipulate the victims of the Nazi holocaust as their chief weapon.” – Alfred Lilienthal

JAN 17 — There’s a memorable scene in the Stephen Spielberg film “Munich”. After the 1972 Munich Olympic Games killings of Israeli athletes, Prime Minister Golda Meir tells confidants she wants to show the plotters that killing Jews “is expensive”. She then organises for the assassination of each of the plotters.

Today, it is Israel itself that has become expensive. Most directly, it is very expensive to the US, which subsidises and arms it.

But Israel’s utter inability to transform the Palestinians from enemies into friends has imposed big costs on us all. We have paid for Israel’s failure with bombs on London public transport, bombs in bars in Bali, and even the loss of the World Trade Centre towers in New York.

It is not true that these outrages have occurred because certain Islamic fundamentalists don’t like Western lifestyles and so plant bombs in response. Rather, it is Israel — or more correctly the treatment of the Palestinians — that is at the nub of these events.

The world’s Muslims have no head: no overarching caliph or pope equivalent exists — no single power source with whom to negotiate. Instead, Islam is remarkably decentralised. So, how extraordinary that Israel and the West have managed to unite this headless, diverse, dispersed grouping without any institutional framework, around just one issue — anger at the treatment of the Palestinians.

Otherwise dispersed groups of Muslims do seem to feel for one another in a way that Christians and others do not. In this respect, the international Islamic community is like a body: kick it in the leg and the rest of the body feels it. Kick it hard enough and the entire body will be energised to defend itself. Pictures of distraught Gazan mothers beside the mutilated bodies of their children are circulating right now among Muslim communities worldwide. It is pictures like these that make them want to do something.

Consider Malaysia. Every citizen of this outpost of Islam has printed in his or her passport that the passport is not valid for Israel. And given that Malaysians are not allowed to hold dual citizenship, this essentially means that every Malaysian citizen, including the 40 per cent who are not Muslims, are banned from visiting Israel.

“When will Malaysia recognise Israel?” I once asked the then finance minister. “Once Israel treats the Palestinians better,” was his reply. How would he determine that? “When the Palestinians tell us,” he said. It is not Israel’s right to exist that is at issue.

The enmity many Muslims now feel for Israel has nothing to do with religion. The historical persecutors of the Jews have been Christians — their punishment for the death of Jesus. Jews and Muslims have lived in peace for hundreds of years in many parts of the Islamic world. When Catholic Spain and Portugal expelled its Jews, the Ottoman sultan in Istanbul invited them in. It is the Palestinian issue that has ruined all this.

Of course, today Israel must defend itself. If the residents of Bendigo started firing rockets into Melbourne you would expect Melbourne to retaliate. But what must Melbourne have done to Bendigo to make them do such a thing? Constantly slapping an opponent in the face, kicking it down to its knees, and watching it struggle in the dirt will not teach the opponent to love or respect you. It teaches only hatred.

Persecuting people does not weaken them. Israel should know that. The Jews have been persecuted for centuries. It didn’t destroy them but gave them the impetus to survive.

One characteristic that is common among persecuted groups is a strong investment in education — when people’s physical wealth is in danger of destruction from war and persecution one store of wealth that stays with individuals even when they must flee as refugees is education. It explains why such groups often insist on their own schools — education is too important to be entrusted to others.

Hamas did not enjoy the support of all the people of Gaza. It does now. Why does Israel keep getting it wrong?

Trekking in Nepal is fashionable among young Israelis. So much so that many shops in Kathmandu and Pokhara have signs in Hebrew. But once you get on the trekking circuit and speak with local Nepalese guides and guesthouse operators you soon discover how disliked the Israelis are. Many guesthouses in this poor country will even tell Israeli trekking groups that they are full rather than accept them. This has nothing to do with religion or politics: Nepalese people are some of the warmest, most hospitable in the world. Rather, they say that the young Israelis are rude, arrogant, and argue over trifling amounts of money even though they clearly have means.
Israel needs to change. The Parsees of India might provide a model. The Parsees are a very tiny, very rich ethnic and religious minority. They own perhaps most of the land in central Mumbai as well as the country’s largest conglomerate. And yet ordinary Indians admire and respect them. Violence against them is unthinkable.

How have they achieved this? They are not flashy or arrogant. Their overriding characteristic is a deep interest in the welfare of others. They have established hospitals, libraries, schools, museums and many other institutions and, most importantly, not for the Parsee community exclusively but for everyone. So the Parsees have peace and the Israelis do not. — The Age